The roll out of Healthcare.gov has given plenty of ammunition to opponents of health care reform, who style themselves as crusaders against incompetence. While many who oppose the program do so in good faith, some critics carry an ugly prejudice against sick and disabled people.
That prejudice is "just deserts" -- the idea that people get what they deserve. Rich people deserve their luxury. Poor people deserve their poverty. Sick and ...

Imagine your spouse, parent, or best friend gets a left ventricular assist device (LVAD). This is a mechanical device put into their chest. A wire sticks out of their body and connects to a bunch of different electronic pieces you’ve never seen before. You’re in charge of making sure this wire stays clean. If it doesn’t, it could mean infection and possible death. So, you know. It’s kind of a big responsibility.
Of ...

Outsourcing work to cheaper workers is a common strategy of corporations. It has largely escaped the public's notice, however, that much of this new labor force isn't located in Southeast Asia, but is rather found here in the U.S. and is virtually free. It is we, using our laptops and smartphones to perform tasks once carried out by knowledgeable salespeople and service representatives.
This was particularly salient to me this week: ...

Every once in a while, something unexpected occurs that shakes me to my core -- where I question the point of life, ask why we even bother; when in the end, it all just ends.
This time, it happened on a Sunday morning. I woke up in a good enough mood -- the sun was shining through my windows, and my cat, ...

At the International Conference on Communication in Healthcare, which I just returned from, there was a discussion continuously coursing beneath the surface and bubbling up every once in a while. If we, acolytes of shared decision making, whether patients or providers, want to encourage decision making that has the person involved at the center, recognizing their preferences and values, does the kind of decision in question have anything to do ...

My daughter loves her career as a probation officer. She is very good at what she does, and finds the work both challenging and rewarding. Yet her client case load includes some of the most unsavory of individuals, found guilty by the courts of child abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault or worse, many of them living with added complexities like addictions or mental health issues. She’s been insulted and screamed at by ...

As a healthcare writer, I often spend large chunks of the day reading about medical conditions. I often joke when starting work that it’s only a matter of time before I notice signs of the condition in myself. I remember being convinced I had gallstones for a while until I finished working on a gallbladder surgery multimedia program. Suddenly, the symptoms that had been preoccupying me for several weeks vanished.
I ...

Providers in all parts of the health care system recognize that troublesome social conditions drive much of their work and costs. Major challenges in people’s social circumstances -- layoffs, foreclosures, accidents, violence -- can create horrific health care needs, many of which become chronic and carry high price tags. These extreme needs are omnipresent in the nation’s hospitals, which care for about 37 million admissions at a medical expense of ...

In the world of health care, as in most enterprises where we must interact with one another for mutual benefit, we need words to describe one another. And the words we have for us people who use/need/want health care frankly don't cut the mustard.
We need a new one.
The French gave us tasty food, the Statue of Liberty, and the wonderful phrase, "le mot juste." Translated literally, it means "the exact ...

Recently, both my husband and I came away from a conversation with my doctor positive that we understood my new weight gain plan. Funny thing: Each of us recalled a different plan. I am always struck by how our memories of the words spoken by my doctor can be so dissimilar. No, not all of them, but enough of them to be wary of going to any appointment without a ...